Man who raped 13-year-old gets probation; blindness cited as a factor

A man who raped a 13-year-old girl at an Oklahoma church camp received a sentence of probation after accepting a plea deal, according to multiple reports
Time

This Jan. 22, 2018, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Benjamin Lawrence Petty who was sentenced Jan. 19, 2018, to 15 years of probation after pleading guilty to brutally raping and sodomizing a Texas girl at Falls Creek church camp in Oklahoma in 2016.(Photo: Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)

An Oklahoma man who pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl was sentenced to 15 years probation and the prosecutor cited the man's legally blind status as a "major factor" in the decision not to seek prison time, The Oklahoman reported Tuesday.

Benjamin Lawrence Petty pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing a girl in 2016 at achurch camp, where he was working as a cook, the paper reported. Petty tied the girl's wrists with a rope and threatened to hurt her if she told anyone, according to the criminal charge.

Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle said Petty's blindness was a "major factor" in the sentence.

"The big thing is Mr. Petty is legally blind and the parents live out of state and this little girl lives out of state and didn't want to make all the travels back and forth," Pyle told The Oklahoman. "The plea was negotiated with their permission."

Bruce Robertson, an attorney representing the victim's family in a civil case, told the paper that the family did not object to Petty getting probation.